Monolog by a Poker Shark
Monolog by a Poker Shark
Sam P. has been playing poker for many years and he tells us that he's come out on top doing it.
Sam has agreed to give some of his trade dialog, some of the smart tactics he's learned from hard, bloody experience. Maybe Sam's not giving us his deepest insights, people rarely disclose their real secrets, no matter how much they may protest to the contrary, but with a little practice the poker player can turn the following information into dollars and cents.
"Poker? Yeah, poker's my game. It's the best. Don't let anyone tell you it's not a game of skill. I make a nice living at it, and I know lots of other guys who do too. I even had one pal of mine clobber a sucker who insisted poker was all luck. But anyway, what can I tell you? Anything I say you can read in a book. Trouble is then you'll go out and gamble with someone who knows what he's doing and you'll forget everything you've read. Hey, that's good, that's your first lesson: read all the books, then forget them, forget rule one, rule two, and rule three. Just play according to the style you like best.
"But, anyway, you want some information. A lot of the classic rules come to mind. Best hand before the draw usually wins. Don't bet unless you're holding jacks or better. When you know you're holding losers, drop it quick. That's old stuff, isn't it? What else comes to mind? If I had to give the best advice I know, it's to know as much as you can about the people you're playing with. That old saying you see quoted all over the poker books about how a poker player has to be a psychologist is true. Everybody's got a different personality, you see, and it comes out when you play poker with them. If a guy is crazy he'll probably play poker the same way. Then, once you see what kind of poker he plays, play that way back at him. If he plays tight, you play tight. If he plays crazy, get a little crazy yourself, you understand? Do you understand why I'm saying that? Because otherwise you'll get hurt. Because let's say you're in a game with five lunatics all raising as if it was the last game they'd play before they croaked. And you're there playing it nice and safe, not betting on anything worse than aces. What happens? They ante you to death. Every pot you're losing ante, right? Pot after pot. And that can cost you. And then, Mister Big, you finally get something nice, three ladies, for example, and you start betting like crazy. Everyone knows you've got something nice so they drop. You're out in the cold. Of course, this kind of situation can be the kind of stuff first-rate poker is made of, but you have to know what you're doing to make it that way. Let's suppose you get into a game with some wild players. You let them toss their dough around for a while and you just sit tight, playing it close to the chest. Then all of a sudden you start betting high. You're really holding crap, you see, but you bluff it. Some of the players think you're really strong and they leave the game. A few will keep raising though. You raise them back so high and recklessly that they figure you're so conservative that you wouldn't do this unless you had good cards. So they scare and finally drop too. Maybe you don't make a gigantic winning, but what you do is to throw them off their stride. They thought they had you pegged and you fooled them. And the best thing you can do with a good player is to let him think he's pegged you, then throw him a great big curve. A confused poker player is a lousy poker player. Remember that. That's psychology.
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